"Brother, is this stuff really rare?"
Lin Xiaohe was still young, so the spirit spring water worked mostly on her body.
Her delicate little face was rosy and utterly adorable.
Lin Mo reached out and patted his little sister's head with a smile. "It's just something cultivators use all the time. Nothing precious, but it works wonders for people who haven't begun cultivating."
Only after hearing that did Lin Xiaohe leave in high spirits.
This water was precious within the sect, but to Lin Mo, who had the gourd in hand, it was nothing extraordinary. Naturally, he felt no sting at giving it away.
Seeing his family so happy, Lin Mo found an unconscious smile spreading across his own face.
The gourd's appearance was, without a doubt, a chance to change his destiny completely.
Even leaving aside whether it had any other uses, its ability to turn waste into treasure-to transform spring water into spirit liquid-was enough to make Lin Mo a true cultivator, and perhaps even let him travel farther along the path of cultivation and behold a more dazzling future.
Even with such a divine treasure, Lin Mo had no ambitions of becoming invincible under heaven. He only wanted to make his earlier boasts come true first.
Born a farmer's son, Lin Mo had no lofty aspirations. Giving his family a good life was his greatest dream.
For Lin Mo, his ties were not only to family and friends, but also to the great locust tree at the village entrance and the crops growing season after season in the fields.
This spirit spring water can improve the human body. I wonder whether it works on crops too.
A frail body could not bear too much nourishment.
Lin Mo's aptitude was so poor that he still had not absorbed all the spirit spring water he had drunk that morning. Looking at the patch of wheat his father had planted outside their home, its shoots barely poking up, he suddenly had an unusual idea.
After a little thought, he filled a gourd with spring water, found a secluded corner, selected a few green shoots, and poured the spirit water over them.
Then he marked the spot, intending to return the next day to see what happened.
Word had spread that the Lin family's "Chosen One" had returned, and Lin Mo spent those two days basking in everyone's praise.
Many women pointed him out to their children, telling them to follow Lin Mo's example, join an immortal sect, and rise above the crowd.
Hearing this, Lin Mo did not know whether to feel happy or sad.
But he understood that, having left a farming household and entered an immortal sect's gates, he was undoubtedly an immortal's disciple in the villagers' eyes.
Why should I burst that bubble and extinguish the last thread of hope, the last glimmer of longing in their hearts?
At midnight once more, Lin Mo slowly exhaled as he sat cross-legged on his bed. Sensing the Spiritual Qi Vortex that had taken shape within him, he felt even more delighted.
At this rate, it isn't impossible for me to reach the first level of Qi Refinement before the assessment and become a true cultivator.
Failing that, I can still bribe the examiner with spirit spring water to buy more time.
That means my chances of staying in the sect are much better now.
The spiritual energy accumulated inside him had still not been fully absorbed. Lin Mo took another small sip of spirit spring water, stood up, and lightly vaulted over the courtyard wall, which stood taller than a man, before heading toward the field he had visited that day.
He had originally intended to wait until the next day, but the matter had been on his mind all day long. Since he could not sleep after cultivating anyway, he decided to go and look.
Before he even drew near, he saw by the moonlight a patch of golden wheat ears standing out like a crane among chickens amid the green, swaying in the night breeze.
It's already... ripe!
Lin Mo was startled, then delighted.
He hurried forward and pulled up that small patch of wheat by the roots. After examining it carefully, he confirmed that the ears were fully ripe.
At that moment, Lin Mo finally could not hold back a cheer.
Over the past two days, he had tried several times to put other things into the gourd, hoping to see whether they would change.
But the gourd's mouth was simply too small. Afraid that brute force might damage his treasure, Lin Mo could only give up and plan to take things slowly.
Now that the spirit spring water could spur plants to grow, infinite possibilities had opened up before Lin Mo.
Popping the wheat grains into his mouth and crunching them, Lin Mo discovered that the grain grown with spirit spring water not only matured extremely quickly but also tasted sweet and fragrant, scarcely inferior to the mouthful of spirit grain he had happened to taste on the previous New Year's Eve.
It was both fast and good.
In little more than a day, heaven and earth had already been transformed. Lin Mo, who had once had no hope at all, no longer felt the slightest anxiety about passing the sect's assessment.
And it was all thanks to the little gourd tucked against his chest!
Time passed quickly.
Three days had gone by, and it was time to part again.
This time, however, their parting was for the sake of a better reunion, just as that reunion would be the prelude to their next farewell.
"Father, Mother, Xiaohe, I have to leave today."
"But don't worry. I'll be able to come back next year, and then I can stay home for several more days."
As long as he reached the first level of Qi Refinement, he could be promoted to an Outer Sect Disciple and truly become a member of the immortal sect.
Then he would receive leave to visit his family every year. Some exceptionally talented disciples could even bring their parents to live there.
With the Treasure Gourd tucked against his chest, Lin Mo now felt thoroughly confident.
Though his parents could not bear to see their son leave, they knew they must not delay his cultivation.
Lin’s Mother wiped away her tears and said little, only repeatedly urging Lin’s Father to pack the few valuables they had at home.
"Son, these are the three taels of silver your father has saved over the past few years."
"An immortal sect isn't like our poor backwater. Everything costs money there. Take it and smooth things over with the people above and below you."
The farmer knew nothing of spirit stones, nor that these three taels of silver were no different from grit in the eyes of sect disciples. He only wanted his promising son to take the best things they had. Without allowing any argument, he stuffed the little pouch containing three taels of silver pieces, wrapped in several layers, into Lin Mo's arms.
Lin Mo did not refuse his parents' kindness, but secretly slipped the three taels of silver into his mother's sleeve without a sound.
Smiling, he pointed toward his bedroom and told his family, "I left some spring water in there. Take a little sip every morning. It's good for your health."
"Xiao He, once I'm gone, you'll be a big girl. Remember to listen to Father and Mother."
The little girl threw herself into her brother's arms, her eyes rimmed red, and refused to let go.
"Brother, if the immortal sect really is no good, just come home. If anyone talks badly about you behind your back, I'll beat them up."
Lin Xiaohe spoke softly.
Lin Mo did not know how to explain that he now possessed a supreme treasure and that passing the assessment was already as certain as a nail driven into a board. He merely smiled and tousled the hair Lin Xiaohe had gotten up early to arrange.
I wonder what changes Father, Mother, and Xiao He will undergo after drinking the spirit spring water I left them...
He did not want a crowd coming to see him off, so he quietly bid his family farewell and set out on the road back to the mountain, carrying a faint sense of anticipation and the clean clothes his mother had just hurried to make.
The mountain roads were hard to travel.
Yet with his state of mind changed, the journey back to the mountain was clearly much easier than his journey home had been.
Lin Mo made a special trip to the stream where he had found the little gourd, but discovered no other spiritual treasure like the one against his chest. He could not help feeling a little disappointed, then sighed at his own inability to be satisfied.
The journey that had originally taken three days was completed in two.
At last, he once again saw that enormous mountain peak towering hundreds of zhang high.
"Azure Cloud Sect, I'm back."
Lin Mo took a deep breath, steadied his excitement, and began climbing the stone steps that rose straight into the clouds.
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